snowed-in | clexa

six

They finish the movie and their paintings after Clarke makes them another two cups of hot chocolate (Lexa taught her and Clarke is very proud that she's not burning the milk).

Then, they make pizza for lunch, which is the first real cooking experience in Clarke's entire life.

It's not at all like she expected. For Clarke, cooking always meant being in a hectic restaurant kitchen hurrying to get stuff done in a cloud of grease and heat. Not that she's ever done that, but she has been in restaurants and that's what she imagined.

Now, she stands in Lexa's warm kitchen chopping tomatoes while Lexa makes the dough and sings along to 'Jingle Bell Rock'. Clarke is softly swaying her hips to the beat, the air smells of pizza, warmth and Christmas and somehow, Clarke never wants to stop cooking.

Nothing else seems to matter but Clarke, Lexa, the pizza and the Christmas music.

Clarke loves it.

But don't worry, she's not going crazy. She still misses her fancy spas.

Actually, Lexa's was a whole lot more personal and special.

Well, she does miss the breakfast she was supposed to be at that morning.

Wait- she learned how to make pancakes herself. That counts for a lot more, doesn't it?

Okay, but the Trikru party for real. She's stressing out over maybe not getting there in time, and not being able to go with Mr. Collins.

Now that Clarke thinks about it, the thought of having to be a perfect, shining example of a date to yet another rich man is actually heavily turning her off. Especially after that morning in Lexa's arms. She hasn't talked like that to anyone in ages, no one ever but Raven.

She does miss Raven. There's no denying that. And her parents, a little bit, though considering the way she's behaving right now, it might be best that her parents aren't around to see.

The issue is, now that she's here, laughing over Lexa's once-in-a-lifetime performance of Santa Baby and cutting tomatoes, she might not want to go back to making a thousand calls and writing e-mails and typing reports for hours on end that quickly.

Clarke feels a little bad when she arrives at the conclusion that perhaps, was the cabin to be snowed in the next day still, she wouldn't actually freak out as much about missing the Trikru party as she would have a week ago.

-

The afternoon is calm and quiet. Clarke picks a book of Lexa's she finds sounds interesting (her first fiction book since childhood fairy tales!) and Lexa gets back to her thriller.

While Lexa has disappeared entirely in the softness of the armchair and a fuzzy blanket, Clarke is curled up against a cushion on the couch.

When you live in the city for your entire life, you get used to the constant noise. You don't label it as 'loud'.

When you live in a small town for your entire life, you get used to the silence. You don't label it as 'quiet'.

So while Lexa is perfectly able to read her book, Clarke can't help but realize just how peaceful a cabin like this in the mountains is. The rustling of Lexa's blanket when she moves a bit. The crackling of the fire. The thud her cup of sweet peppermint tea makes when she sets it back on the couch table.

Clarke can't help it. The gentle noise combined with the reading, tiredness spreads in her body within 30 minutes. Her limbs feel sated and slowly, one-by-one, relax, until Clarke can't fight against her head dropping on the cushion and her falling fast asleep.